Demand for smart TV SoCs "has proven to be smaller than anticipated."

Well, that must be some kind of record. Back at CES in early January, Qualcomm announced a smart TV-oriented chip called the Snapdragon 802. Yesterday in a small, quiet press release, the company announced that the Snapdragon 802 has been canceled.

"Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has decided not to commercialize the recently announced Snapdragon 802 processor as the overall demand for processors uniquely designed for smart TVs has proven to be smaller than anticipated," wrote Jon Carvill, Qualcomm's Senior Director of Public Relations. "This decision is specific to the Snapdragon 802 processor and does not affect other products we are currently shipping in this segment."

This chip would have been a close relative to the Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 805 that Qualcomm sells for use in phones and tablets—it had a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU based on Qualcomm's Krait architecture, an Adreno 330 GPU with extensive support for 4K video, and integrated 802.11ac Wi-Fi. It may be that the chip was so similar to Qualcomm's other offerings that there would have been no need for it. Any Qualcomm-powered smart TV could probably get by with one of Qualcomm's other chips, obviating the need for a specialized product. We've contacted Qualcomm for more information about its smart TV plans and will update if we receive a response.

The quick cancellation is especially surprising given the time that these chips generally take to develop (two to three years is not uncommon). The Snapdragon 802 was scheduled to begin sampling to partners in early 2014 and shipping later this year, suggesting that a fairly significant amount of design work had already been completed. If demand was going to be this low, it's a bit odd that Qualcomm couldn't have found out about it in the research phase.

Promoted Comments

I might be wrong in this (feel free to correct me with ACTUAL DATA) but what I see in the SmartTV market is the chicken's coming home to roost for the vendors involved. A TV is something one expects to use for ten years or more; and a SmartTV is only worth paying a premium for IF it will continue to be pleasant to use and relevant for that entire lifespan. But the vendors involved have all shown (in the phone/tablet) market their utter lack of interest in support after you've paid for their devices.

So what I see is that the AppleTV market (and similar devices, from Roku to Chromecast) are doing OK, either because their is a belief that support will continue longterm (Apple) or they're cheap enough to buy a new one in two years (Chromecast). But fusing the smartness with the TV is a loser, and will continue to be a loser until an entrant that is trusted to provide long term support enters this space...

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.